Catastrophic Flooding from Hurricane Helene

Here’s a map showing rainfall from Hurricane Helene (which has not totally ended yet, as the tropical depression that was Hurricane Helene is still stalled over the Ohio Valley). Note the heaviest rainfall was inland, not at the coast. A stream of very moist air had to lift to get over the Smoky Mountains. So, the heaviest rain was in western North Carolina. There were some totals in the 5-6″ range up into southern Indiana and southern Ohio. As of 8 am, South Bend IN had 0.17″ and Detroit 0.08″. As we expected, there are scattered showers at the Michigan/Minnesota football game.

While there is a chance of a shower, mainly south and east of Grand Rapids this weekend, any rainfall here would be light.

Showers will be moving from east to west. We don’t see that too often in Michigan. At our latitude, we have the “prevailing westerlies”, and weather tends to move from west to east. The latitude from 40° to 50° is also sometimes called the “roaring 40s” due to the stronger winds that can occur occasionally here.

Here’s a map from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showing average wind speeds offshore of the U.S. You can see the average wind along the east coast is generally stronger as you go north. While Florida gets an occasional hurricane, the average wind speed is significantly greater off New England.

So, if you wanted to put up wind turbines, you’d get more bang for the buck by putting them on Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod than off of Daytona Beach or Tampa.

I may add to this thread, so come back later. I’ve got another trip scheduled this coming week with daughter #3, then the following week, a trip with daughter #2. I’m going to hear the G.R. Symphony tonight with daughter #1 (if you’ve got nothing to do, c’mon downtown and hear some excellent music tonight at DeVos Performance Hall. Say “hi” if you see me.

Also, in the next several weeks, I hope to have a cat update. As many of you know, our two cats became stars during the COVID period when I was doing the weather from my basement. They were older cats and both have since passed away. Sir Yum was around 14 years old and Nimbus was 15 years old. This video of my cats has had 1.4 million views on YouTube. They were both strays from the Humane Society and I miss them.

ALSO : Meteorologist covering Helene rescues woman from rising floodwaters in Atlanta . I ncredible damage from wind and storm surge at Horseshoe Beach, Florida .

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